Fluoride lawsuit survives legal challenge

VISTA -- A lawsuit against the city of Escondido and the state
over plans to fluoridate the city's water supply survived a legal
challenge Thursday and appeared headed for a trial in April.

Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Stern tentatively denied
requests from the city and the state to decide the case in their
favor without having a trial.

Attorneys in the case have until Monday to ask to make oral
arguments to Stern to try to persuade her to change her ruling
before it becomes final. Stern would hear the arguments March 12 if
they are requested.

Assistant City Attorney Jennifer McCain could not be reached for
comment Thursday afternoon. Deputy Attorney General Karen Fried,
who represents the state, was out of her office and unavailable for
comment Thursday afternoon.

A group of people who live and work in Escondido filed the
lawsuit in September 2001 against the city and the state, seeking a
court order declaring the city's fluoridation plan unconstitutional
and prohibiting the city from going forward with its plans.

The group's attorney, Kyle Nordrehaug, has said the legal
dispute involves what substance the city will use to fluoridate the
water. Nordrehaug has said the city plans to use an "industrial
by-product" that contains harmful chemicals as well as fluoride and
that the state approval of the city's plan was flawed.

"I don't challenge, necessarily, that the government can put
fluoride in my water, they just have to do it in a certain way with
a certain substance," Nordrehaug said Thursday. "We don't say the
government doesn't have the power to do this. We're saying, as with
all actions of government power, it has to be done in a legal
way."

A divided City Council voted 3-2 in June 2001 to lift a 1999
city ban against putting chemicals, including fluoride, in city
water to begin the process of fluoridating the city's drinking
water.

The Statewide Fluoridation Act required cities throughout
California with more than 10,000 water service connections to
fluoridate their water once money became available. The California
Dental Association Research Fund offered to pay the initial costs
to set up Escondido's water treatment plant for water fluoridation.
The city's interim utilities manager said in December that the city
will receive $300,000 from the fund once the plant is fluoridating
water.

Local dentists and doctors around the state have called the
addition of fluoride to the water an effective way to treat tooth
decay in poorer children who might not have access to regular
dental appointments.

Nordrehaug said the city needs to find out how much fluoride
residents already are exposed to before adding it to the water to
make sure residents are not overexposed. The city also has chosen
hydrofluorosilic acid that contains arsenic and lead instead of
sodium fluoride, the type used in toothpaste, or calcium fluoride,
which occurs naturally, he said.

The lawsuit against the city and the state alleges the city's
fluoridation plan violates a state law that makes it a crime to add
a "hazardous substance" to the "state's water," and alleges it
violates the constitutional rights of residents, Stern wrote in her
tentative ruling.